Capturing the Moment

Bird Watching in Kenya   With over 1,000 species of birds East Africa can be a birders dream trip. You can find them in all sizes from the tiny ruby breasted sunbird to the heaviest flying bird, the kory bustard. They come in every color imaginable and some you have probably never imagined before. The experienced birder will be in birding heaven, but what I also see happen here time and time again is novice birders get hooked on bird watching and gain a lifelong passion. Bateleur Eagle Combing birding and photography is also a wonderful challenge in a place like Kenya. You may end up seeing six different species of eagles on one game drive. The birds-of-prey are often out hunting over the plains and perched up in the acacia trees. The brightly colored bateleur eagle ( Terathopius ecaudatus ) is always a favorite with its orange and yellow beak contrasting its dark body feathers. Lilac Breasted Roller European Roller   My ultimate Kenyan bird species to ...

This crow wouldn't stand a chance 'Here's looking at you'  Many people are amazing at the number of Bald Eagles encountered when they visit Alaska. During the summer, especially when the salmon start returning to the rivers, eagles are probably the most abundant bird species that one sees. In fact, on many of my weeklong trips that I run I often have guests who stop taking pictures of eagles towards the end, because they have so many pictures already. For Eagle Fans   But for me, there is just something regal about bald eagles. It makes it easy to understand why they were chosen as our National bird. Every once in a while they will be acting up, and the pictures come out looking more comical than regal. Here are a few of those pictures from my most recent photo shoot with these interesting birds. You can check out a post from a year ago from my favorite eagle photo session up near Homer, Alaska.   I am quite pleased that these eagles have survived in s...

No salmon yet Moose just off the road in Homer  The next destination on our Alaska exploration was on the other side of the Kenai Peninsula at the little fishing town of Homer. A couple of my friends spent summers up here working on salmon fishing boats and had great stories and recommendations on where to go. Hiking Coopers Landing Our Homer Home  We stopped in Coopers Landing for a fun hike to a cascading waterfall on the Indian River, but were a little too early in the season for bear sightings. We continued on to the southwest tip of the peninsula to our air b&b place on the outskirts of Homer. I immediately fell in love with the cabin when I saw I had to walk through a greenhouse filled with colorful flowers to get to the front door. The cabin itself was painted in bright colors but what really amazed me was the inside. A huge comfortable bed, a kitchen minus the oven, a makeshift sink with a 5 gallon jug of water, and a little table and desk all mad...